GENTLE FOLK

Gentle Folk is a small family winery based in Basket Range in the Adelaide Hills, South Australia, founded by husband-and-wife team Gareth and Rainbo Belton. Known for organic farming, minimal-intervention winemaking and highly expressive cool-climate wines, Gentle Folk has become one of the distinctive producers associated with the modern generation of Adelaide Hills wine.

The story of Gentle Folk is particularly unusual because neither Gareth nor Rainbo originally planned to become winemakers. Both were marine scientists specialising in phycology—the study of algae and seaweeds—and completed PhDs in the field. Their shared interest in wine, food and growing eventually drew them away from academic research and toward the vineyards surrounding their home in the Adelaide Hills.

Gentle Folk began in 2012, after the Beltons spent considerable time with figures in the emerging Basket Range wine community, including James Erskine of Jauma and Alex Schulkin of The Other Right. Their first actual winemaking followed in 2013 with just three barrels from the Broderick family's Basket Range vineyard. From these tiny beginnings, the project gradually developed into a serious small-production winery.

Today, Gentle Folk farms approximately eight hectares across five vineyard sites in the western Adelaide Hills, with Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling forming an important part of the estate's plantings. Annual production remains relatively small at approximately 6,000–7,000 cases, allowing the team to maintain a close relationship with individual vineyards.

The Adelaide Hills are fundamental to the Gentle Folk style. Vineyards across the region can reach approximately 500–650 metres above sea level, while the underlying geology incorporates sandstone alongside varying amounts of quartz, schist and ironstone. Warm, dry summers combined with cool nights during the final stages of ripening help preserve acidity and aromatic definition.

Gentle Folk farms its own vineyards organically, incorporating selected biodynamic preparations. Green manure and flowering cover crops, grazing animals and organic fertilisers are used to support vineyard and soil health. Fruit is harvested by hand during the cool mornings, reinforcing the estate's highly hands-on approach to viticulture.

Pinot Noir and Chardonnay have become particularly important expressions of Gentle Folk. Rather than blending all fruit into regional wines, the estate increasingly explores individual vineyards and subregions, allowing differences in altitude, geology and exposure to become visible in the finished wines. Current single-site releases include wines from places such as Scary Gully, Monomeith, Basket Range and Piccadilly.

The Scary Gully Pinot Noir is a particularly compelling example. Its Pinot Noir vines were planted in 1984 at approximately 620 metres elevation, making it one of the estate's highest and oldest Pinot sites. Light loamy clay sits above sandstone and extensive quartz, while recent vintages have incorporated a portion of whole clusters and restrained new oak to produce perfumed, structured and pure Pinot Noir.

Monomeith Pinot Noir, meanwhile, comes from Ashton at approximately 530 metres elevation. The vineyard's unusual east-west orientation exposes different sections to morning and afternoon sunlight, while its loamy clay, sandstone and quartz soils contribute another distinctive interpretation of Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir.

Chardonnay receives the same site-focused treatment. Gentle Folk's Basket Range Chardonnay comes from a steep, north-facing vineyard surrounded by native forest, while its Piccadilly Chardonnay explores one of the Adelaide Hills' coolest and most highly regarded Chardonnay areas. Oak is employed carefully, with the objective of building texture without obscuring fruit, acidity or vineyard character.

Gentle Folk is not limited to classical Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. The range has included Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Sangiovese, Syrah, Gamay and Merlot, alongside playful multi-varietal wines. Vin de Sofa, for example, is conceived as a vibrant, highly drinkable light red and has incorporated Sangiovese with smaller proportions of Syrah and Merlot, matured across large-format oak, terracotta, stainless steel and neutral puncheons.

This combination of serious vineyard work and an unpretentious attitude is central to Gentle Folk. The wines belong to the broader evolution of Australian minimal-intervention winemaking, but their identity is increasingly defined by something more specific: detailed exploration of the cool, elevated vineyards of the Adelaide Hills. For drinkers interested in contemporary Australian Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and naturally made wines with a strong sense of place, Gentle Folk has become an important producer to follow.

Shop Gentle Folk wines online at Wine More Cellars Australia. Discover Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and small-production natural wines with Australia-wide shipping and free delivery on eligible orders over $199.